{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,27]],"date-time":"2026-06-27T09:34:56Z","timestamp":1782552896675,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":67,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2006,4,1]],"date-time":"2006-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1143849600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Qualitative Inquiry"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (a) theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (b) one cannot generalize from a single case, therefore, the single-case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (c) the case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (d) the case study contains a bias toward verification; and (e) it is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. This article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of a greater number of good case studies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1077800405284363","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2006,2,24]],"date-time":"2006-02-24T11:18:30Z","timestamp":1140779910000},"page":"219-245","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8315,"title":["Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Bent","family":"Flyvbjerg","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Aalborg University, Denmark"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2006,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","first-page":"53","volume-title":"What is a case? 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